“As we engage in the process of self-discovery, it is helpful to take a closer look not only where we are but who we’ve been.

When you were a child, you knew what it was like to be silent and alone. We all did. In our innocence, we made up games and stories, played with dolls, became lost in books and daydreams, listened to music or made some of our own, talked to ourselves or invented imaginary companions. We stretched out on the lawn and watched bugs or spun daydreams. Summer days lasted forever and we felt immortal. Death, despair, and injury were alien, abstract concepts. The world was full to overflowing with possibilities.

Being still and fully open, in silence and solitude, helps us return to the sense of childlike oneness and wonder we once knew. We encounter ourselves again. In silence and solitude we begin to recapture our sense of being most fully alive. Being alone allows us to listen to our hearts, feel our spirits, and observe our minds. Aloneness encourages us to notice the smallest details of our behavior. By taking the time to watch ourselves with deliberateness, as an uninvolved bystander might, we may learn what we really love and what we dislike, what’s truly important to us and what is trivial, what contributes to our pleasure and what drives us nuts, which people we want to be with and those whom we are ready to let go from our lives. In short, we come face to face with who we really are, as adults — possibly for the very first time.

Give yourself the gift of a child’s delight in the marvels of our everyday world. For at least ten minutes, sit on the floor of a space you use often, such as a living room or bedroom. Look around with the eyes of a three-year-old, the eyes of wonder. Pretend you really are three. Then notice what’s different about what is most real, most joyous, and most loved by you. Maybe you’ll make up a story, have a chat with an imaginary friend, or invent a new game. Maybe you’ll find yourself mesmerized by something you’ve never noticed before.”

“Stillness: Daily Gifts of Solitude” by Richard Mahler

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